TOI: Aam admi takes lead in INNOVATION: January 05, 2011

Aam admi takes lead in INNOVATION……Hemali Chhapia

Mumbai: A personal robot from the United States will stand right next to a hoehalf an altered cycle used for weeding farms by marginal farmers who cannot afford bullocks.For,the real India is the new chic in innovation.And a faculty member from the Indian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad,traversed the countryside to capture the eureka moments of farmers,istriwalas,vessel vendors,stationery shop staff and legions of other inventors who developed their own machines.

Doubt is the mother of invention, said Galileo.Necessity is its mother, Plato said.Probably from these wise lines came the famed grain-grinder mounted on a scooter in Aamir Khans school in Ladakh which made the last few frames of the movie Three Idiots,an iron that functions on LPG,a bicycle sprayer and a pulley with a stopper,which are among the few simple,but essential inventions selected.

And displaying the genius of the common man will be the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay,as it prods thousands of engineers,who will visit the campus during Techfest (January 7-9 ),to think.The innovations have come under one roof through the National Innovation Foundation (NIF),which is run by Anil Gupta of IIM-A and supported by the department of science and technology.Twelve of the industrially-acceptable exhibits from NIF will aim at making the public and the industry aware of this organization and will seek entrepreneurs to endorse these innovations.These arent path-breaking innovations by highly-qualified scientists after years of research and experimentation,but by far less educated Indian villagers,showing their expertise by developing effective and cheap solutions for their day to day problems,in which lies the real essence of these exhibits, said Ronnie Philip,media coordinator of Techfest 2011.

RIDING AHEAD: Farmer N N Ravle from Vashim invented the cycle sprayer with adjustable pressure.It allows him to fertilize 20 acres a day

REEL STAR: Sheikh Jahangir Usman from Jalgaon designed the grain-and-spices grinder.Sheikhs ingenious design also featured in Rajkumar Hiranis Three Idiots

GOLD-LETTER DAY: Ravindra Chopada,who runs a shop outside the IIT-B market gate,developed the printer head for golden embossing.The printer has been a huge hit with students,who visit Chopadas shop to get the covers of their manuals and PhD theses designed.When the hotpen nib strikes the foil with pressure,it leaves a golden impression

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Buying a non-stick utensil can burn a hole in ones pocket.Rajkots Mansukh Prajapati developed a low-cost,non-stick pan which preserves the natural state of earthern griddles

PEDDLING CHANGE: Gopal Malhari Bhinse from Jalgaon,came up with the bicycle hoe which allows a person to weed 0.08 hectare/hour